How can we explain the success of the Ladder in the Netherlands and Belgium? What can this teach us about implementing the CO2 Performance Ladder in new sectors, regions and countries? SKAO and CO2logic combined their experiences to identify the most important factors – building blocks and accelerators – for the successful implementation of the CO2 Performance Ladder.
The CO2 Performance Ladder was developed in the Netherlands by ProRail as a way to stimulate action from the market on carbon reduction. For the first decade of its existence, the CO2PL remained a Dutch instrument, focused on the Dutch market, despite international interest from early on, including across the border in Belgium. As a result of that interest, the CO2 Performance Ladder was piloted in 24 construction projects in Belgium, in the period 2019 – 2023. The results of this pilot phase were positive, and are available here. Governments and companies in Belgium are enthusiastic about the instrument and have the ambition to move forward with it.
The Green Deal Sustainable Civil Engineering is a progressive sector initiative that has ensured broad acceptance and application of the CO2 Performance Ladder in the market. Signed in 2013 in the Netherlands, it is a sector-wide approach to integrate sustainability in ground, road and hydraulic engineering projects. It provides how clients and contractors can cooperate to achieve sector-wide agreement to boost sustainability. Its objective: a practical and uniform approach for everyone in the Civil Engineering market to concretise sustainability in projects, with the CO2 Performance Ladder as one of the tools to achieve this.
(The article below is about the pilot phase in Belgium. This phase has now been successfully completed and the CO2 Performance Ladder is being implemented structurally in the country)
The CO2 Performance Ladder was launched in 2019 in Belgium in the framework of several public works contracts. The intention of this pilot phase is to include the CO2 Performance Ladder in several public tenders in the three Belgian regions as pilot projects, to validate the scheme on the Belgian territory.
(The article below is about the pilot phase in Belgium. This phase has now been successfully completed and the CO2 Performance Ladder is being implemented structurally in the country)
Belgium is the first country outside Dutch borders to deploy the CO2 Performance Ladder. Belgian stakeholders are currently busy experimenting in a pilot phase. What is involved in successful implementation of a procurement tool like the CO2 Performance Ladder? Steven Declercq of Embuild Flanders, trade association for the Belgian construction sector, shares his opinion with us.
Jacqueline Cramer knows all about socially responsible procurement. As Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment, she laid the foundations for sustainable public procurement by public authorities. And as board member of the Foundation for Climate-Friendly Procurement and Business (SKAO), she was closely involved in the success of the CO2 Performance Ladder after her ministerial term. She is convinced that the Ladder will also be successful abroad: “The success factors in the Netherlands will also apply abroad.”
An indispensable piece of the CO2 Performance Ladder’s success is accreditation. This is because it ensures that companies are certified properly and fairly. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Accreditation Council (RvA) takes care of that. But what exactly does accreditation entail? And why is it important for successful implementation of the CO2 Performance Ladder?
Dutch railway operator ProRail first put the CO2 Performance Ladder on the market in 2009, but a year and a half later the Ladder was transferred to the Foundation for Climate-Friendly Procurement & Business (SKAO). The foundation opted for accreditation, making independent scheme management and third-party verification the cornerstones of both the CO2 Performance Ladder and SKAO as an organisation. Director Gijs Termeer and project manager Maud Vastbinder discuss the benefits.
In recent years, construction contractor De Vries Stolwijk B.V. has made great strides in the area of sustainability. That sustainable adventure started with certification on the CO2 Performance Ladder. “It was initially about the fictitious award advantage for us,” says KAM (Quality, Working Conditions and Environment) coordinator Bastina van Houwelingen. “But once you start working with the Ladder, you soon notice that more is possible.”
When ProRail introduced the CO2 Performance Ladder in 2009, Dura Vermeer immediately had itself certified at the highest level. In other words, few companies have as much experience with the Ladder as Dura Vermeer. What can we learn from the construction company?